Technological advancements introduce improved methods of educating and imparting knowledge. Snapchat in the Classroom is one of such technologies that can make education fun, whether in middle or high school or college. There are many exciting ways for studying to become fun using this tool.
The attention span of the average teenager is incredibly short, so how can you as a teacher improve their means of learning? Schools can leverage the unique ability of a social media platform to capture a user’s attention for longer periods. You can even use this to summarize the classwork on a particular subject.
One of the reasons why you should incorporate Snapchat in the Classroom or in teaching is because the app is also an excellent tool to humanize educators and help students relate with them better. They are often seen as power figures, and this view can create too long a distance between them and their students. It will be difficult to improve communication between these two parties without bridging this distance. How can you use this opportunity?
Check out these top methods of incorporating Snapchat in the Classroom and into lessons.
1.Increase Student Engagement by Snapchat in the Classroom
Snapchat has multiple inbuilt tools that you can use to engage students. Classrooms can have class-specific geo-filters, which they are asked to design. This activity would boost their interest and spirit. It can even be graded. Bonus points for creativity!
An exciting way to use this program for education is for improved interest in reading, writing, and reviewing books. Using #BookSnaps, students can take photos of assigned books or any study material. They can react to the material using emojis and text for annotation and submission.
They can also compose short recordings of themselves answering each study guideline and post them on their stories. One of your students might have it in them to become a literature review writer online, and you can find out this way. Encourage them to review the books detailing their favorite parts, favorite characters, ratings/recommendations, and what influenced them. You can even have more fun by creating a compilation of these videos and sharing them.
You can even use it to brand the classroom and students alike. Boost their confidence and help them stand out, using shout-outs to encourage and highlight accomplishments.
2.Continued Tutoring and Reminders
Learning doesn’t end, and what better way to show this than fun online tutoring? Snapchat lets you share study material with your students in a picture or video format. It is essentially for storytelling, so tell stories related to study materials. You can snap real-world examples showing distinct timelines using fun features like emojis, fast-forward or slow motion.
Another thing to try would be a Q&A session. Build stronger connections and create room for insightful discussions when giving a personalized response. It’s more engaging than emails, and you’re sure to grow their interest this way.
Remember that your target audience has a short attention span, so the posts must be informal and fun; they should spark conversation. This is an excellent place to use those geo-filters as students would be excited to see their creations put into use. Do you have any important information to pass across to your students? Need to remind them of upcoming quizzes or submission deadlines? Use reminder snaps for one-way communication.
You can also use Snapchat to build excitement and prepare students for classes by sharing discussion topics for the next school day. Efficiently announce class requirements like materials and schedules.
3.Vocabulary Practice
Improve long-term memory and vocabulary retention with snap stories. This works in two methods. You can add snaps of interesting images that relate to or explain a particular word to your story and use the word as the caption. These pictures can be taken from textbooks or anywhere on the internet.
Students can also send images of instances that describe these vocabulary words, whether it was used in conversation or an idea that depicts it. You can compile these photos and present them.
4.Mentoring
Mentor your students on pressing issues that they may find difficult to discuss otherwise. Instead of scheduling a physical meeting, you can set up a virtual one using Snapchat, and they feel safer. This way, you can remain present and help them develop themselves further.
5.Digital Citizenship and Awareness
Learning doesn’t stop at subjects like math and science. Kids should be socially and emotionally intelligent as well. Some don’t realize how their social media posts can influence their lives and peers.
Raise awareness and educate your students and their friends (when they share the posts) about general issues amongst their peers. Incite quality conversations by discussing common issues like bullying and get them to upload the snaps on their stories.
Teach media literacy to the entire class using Snapchat. It is impossible to completely regulate how these teenagers use technology and social media, so why not teach them to be upstanding internet citizens? The goal here is to teach them to be aware of their virtual footprint and how to adapt and participate responsibly online. They should learn to respect their human rights and those around them while effectively communicating and creating online content.
As the most popular social media application amongst teenagers, Snapchat can bring about a “working memory”. This essentially means holding students’ attention long enough to get them to pay attention to the information being passed. They can assimilate better and commit this information to their long-term memory when they do this.
Take advantage of snap stories and the loop feature to spread materials and use the power of repetition in tutoring.
Conclusion
Snapchat is excellent for improving communication between teachers and students. It’s also remarkable for enhanced studying outside the classroom and building relationships. It is pretty easy to use and doesn’t require much.
Pay attention to the needs of these teenagers; that will tell you what kind of materials to generate and how to relate to them. Get ideas from how they use snap stories. You should also remember that this is social; they would probably lose interest if your posts get too serious or too academic.
Use the Snapchat account to turn learning into fun for your kids, and yours will stand out from other classes.